One trip all 48 States

[Buster52]

Just for the fun of it I was figuring the shortest trip I could do from Central California and touch all 48. I have it some where just over 9400 miles. Has anyone tried this? And what is the shortest distance to touch all 48 States?

Buster

[bigred1cav]

There are 50 states. Not 48 since 1959

[msmith1199]

K Charles wrote:
3 guys did it in 97 hrs and 7 min without speeding. I don't think they saw much of each state tho.

Not on the highways they didn't, not without speeding. Assuming they maintained a constant average speed of 65 MPH throughout the entire 97 hours, they could have only traveled 6,305 miles. I think the OP's distance of 9400 miles to touch every state in the lower 48 is probably closer to accurate.

Look at the links posted above. The guy on the motorcycle posted what appears to be a very efficient route to touch every state. He's just hitting the very corners of the outlying states like Washington, Maine, Florida, and California. And still his route is 8,000 miles. To do 8,000 miles in 97 hours you would have to average 82 miles per hour. That means every time you stopped for fuel or slowed for traffic that would have to be made up by going well over 82.

[K_Charles]

3 guys did it in 97 hrs and 7 min without speeding. I don't think they saw much of each state tho.

[gbopp]

Here's one persons route to The Lower 48.
There are other maps and opinions available

Here's another Route.

[Peg_Leg]

The only way to really enjoy it would be not using any interstates.

[Old-Biscuit]

It took us 7 yrs..........and it wasn't the shortest route.

Course we took our time and wanted to enjoy the travel.......not just travel

[deandec]

Just take lots of trips or one real long trip and enjoy the journey.

Each state has interesting stuff to see and do, and it will not be in the most efficient routing scheme.

I would say, "just do it", but I still have a few states to visit in 65 years of traveling. And those visits include riding from Airport to Hotel and back.

I can say I shook hands with Nixon and Humphrey when I was 10 at the Capital building. We camped in a tent in DC on the same trip while we toured the memorials, Smithsonian, etc. I do not think that is possible today.

[leaddog]

When did we lose 2 states? I thought we had 50 states in the US. LOL

Assume you meant the "lower 48" states. We've driven in all of them plus Alaska and I know we went over 9400 miles. Of course we didn't take the shortest and most direct routes in the lower 48. There sure is a lot to see out there and enjoy.